Week 004 Types of Discontinuities of Functions
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Algebra Help
Continuous Functions and Discontinuities
A function that is continuous
is a function whose graph has
no breaks in it; i.e. it is a
continuous curve. Generally
speaking, a function is
continuous if you can draw
its graph without picking up
your pencil. Notice, on the
graph of y = sin(x), that the
function is completely
connected at all points. Many
functions, however, will have
isolated points where they are not connected. These problem points are
called discontinuities. There are three types of discontinuities:
Discontinuity 1: Asymptotic Discontinuities
In the function
we know
that the domain is limited to all
real numbers except 1 and -8.
Often, the most interesting
points in a function are the
problematic points, and indeed,
we can see in the graph that
the function behaves very
strangely at the holes in the
domain.
It may be revealing to look at the values of the function approaching one of
the problematic points, x = 1:
Values of y = (x+4)/(x-
1)(x+8)
x y
0.25 -0.687
0.5 -1.059
0.75 -2.171
1.0 undefined
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1.25 2.270
1.5 1.158
1.75 0.786
As we approach x = 1 from the left side, with increasing x values, the y
value drops to lower and lower negatives. The graph shows us that the y
value seems to approach - from the left as the x-value approaches x = 1,
marked by the dotted line. This represents a discontinuity, since the
function is not connected over the dotted line. Specifically, this type of
discontinuity is called an asymptotic discontinuity. The dotted lines
represent asymptotes; they are values for which the function never takes
a value, yet still approaches. The asymptotes we see with this function are
called vertical asymptotes because they are vertical lines. There are also
horizontal asymptotes. To see horizontal asymptotes, try graphing the
function . It should have a horizontal asymptote at y = 2. In
order to figure out where horizontal asymptotes occur in a function, check
out the section on limits.
In general, asymptotes occur when a function approaches infinity at
a specific value of x or y. If a function has values on both sides of an
asymptote, then it cannot be connected, so it must have a discontinuity at
the asymptote. We look for asymptotes at points where the
denominator is zero because: when the denominator gets close to zero
and becomes very small, it makes the value of the function very large. For
example, if we look at the fraction , i.e. divide 5 by 0.1, we get that it
equals 50. If we make the denominator smaller, the value of the fraction
gets larger: = 500, = 500000. This tells us that the closer to
zero that the denominator is, the larger the value of the fraction. In other
words, we've demonstrated
Discontinuity 2: Point Discontinuities
Point discontinuities are also called removable discontinuities or
removable singularities.
Sometimes we come across functions that are defined differently for a
certain point. Consider the function . We
defined the value of the function to be 1 at the point x = 3, yet, the rest of
the function is dictated by . We can see in the graph that the
function is continuous except for the tiny hole in the curve at x = 1. It is
discontinuous at a single point, and this discontinuity is called a point
discontinuity.
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In general, point discontinuities occur when a function is defined
specifically for an isolated x-value. However, this does not guarantee a
point discontinuity. For example, if we change our function slightly to
it becomes continuous. This is because we
have defined the value of the function at f(3) precisely to be the value of
the function at x = 3. In this case, we did not define the value at =
3 to be different from what it would be if the function were . Then
there is no discontinuity. Compared to our last function with a point
discontinuity, we moved the point back up to the function to "plug" up the
hole, and it is now continuous. Always remember, if a function is defined
like this, to check if the isolated point is a point discontinuity or just a trick.
Point Discontinuities also arise when our function has a denominator that
can be equal to zero, but that part of the denominator can also be cancelled
out with a like term in the numerator. Consider the function .
If we try to find the value of the function at x = 2, we end up getting
. 0/0 represents an undefined number - i.e. the function
does not exist at that point. However, if we restrict the function to a
domain that does not include x = 2, we can simply cancel out the
and be left with . This leaves us to define the function as
. We have effectively removed the
discontinuity to show that the function behaves exactly like , except
at x = 2, where it is undefined.
In conclusion, point discontinuities also occur when we can cancel a
term in the denominator and the numerator. They occur at the values
for which the cancelled term is equal to zero. In our example, we removed
x - 2, and x - 2 = 0 at x = 2. If we were to remove sin(x), we would have
point discontinuities at integer multiples of π, since sin(π) = sin(2π) =
sin(3π) = sin(nπ) = 0 for any integer n.
Discontinuity 3: Jump Discontinuities
Jump discontinuities are also called simple discontinuities, or
continuities of the first kind.
Just as we can define a function at a specific point, we can also define a
function in specific regions. Consider the function For
all intents and purposes, we can consider it two seperate functions - one
that is defined for x less than or equal to 1 and another function that is
defined for x greater than 1. It is useful to think of it this way when we
eventually use integration, differentiation, and other such mathematical
tools. However, as it is written, f is a single function, called a piecewise
function, since it is defined piece-by-piece. Note that the function adheres
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to our definition of being
continuous.
Now, suppose we change our
function slightly to
. The two
pieces now have a different
value at x = 1, and we can see
in the graph that our function f
seems to "jump" from one
branch to the other. Note this
this jump makes the function
discontinuous. We refer to this
as a jump discontinuity.
Notice that the function's
discontinuity is entirely
dependent on the value of the
two branches of the function.
Because of this, we can't just
look at a piecewise function
and immediatlely see if there is
a jump discontinuity. Look at
the following animation, which
essentially moves the linear branch of the piecewise function down, and
note that it is only continuous at one point. In this demonstration, we graph
the function and the animation changes the value of c.
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Jump discontinuities occur where the function approaches two
different values from either side of the discontinuity. In our example,
on the right side of x = 1, the function is approaching the value f(1) = 5.
On the left side of x = 1, the function is approaching the value f(1) = 1.
Thus, it has a jump discontinuity. Formally, we can check this by checking if
the left-hand limit and the right-hand limit of the function correspond to
the same value at a given point. For more information about left-hand and
right-hand limits, please check out the limits page.
Example 1
We have to check the following function for discontinuities:
We begin by looking at the first branch of the function. First, note that it
has an x in its denominator. This tells us that it has a problem in its domain
at x = 0. As the values for x get very small, the value of the function
approaches infinity, so we have an asymptotic discontinuity at x = 0. We
also have to check if the branches correspond to the same value at x = 2.
The first branch yields and the second branch yields . We
can see the functions approach different values at x = 2 so there is a jump
discontinuity at x = 2. There are no other discontinuities.
Exercises
Determine whether the following functions are continuous. If they are not,
determine where their discontinuities are and classify them as asymptotic,
point, or jump discontinuities.
1.
2.
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3.
4.
5.
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